Fail-Safe Sisters Part 2: Lady Victory

There are three certainties in life—death, taxes and NGC is going to find an uber-babe to play the lead in their films. Welcome to the heroine genre, Dominika van Santen; you’re a bit late to the party, but we’re sure glad you showed up. My review of Fail-Safe Sisters Part 2 is below.

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Review by Sidekick

Next Global Crisis Productions has just released the second episode of its new series Fail-Safe Sisters. If you missed the premier episode here’s a little synopsis of the storyline from the site:

The action takes place apart from ‘Next Global Crisis’ and is set in a world where a bloody war has just ended, and it looks as though the bad guys won. The Fail-Safe Sisters, five super-powered women who acted as Generals in the defeated army are captives within the walls of the victors capital city – Lockdown City. They now roam this hostile environment trying to survive, while every week on prime-time TV one of them is pitted against a different Gladiator from Lockdown City. Their aim is not merely to defeat the Fail-Safe Sisters in combat, but to slowly wear down their resistance and break their will, something that will give them the ultimate victory.

The episode opens with Lady Victory and the “host” having a short verbal exchange that leads to the appearance of her opponent, Sleeper. There’s about a minute of warm-up calisthenics before the fights starts, and once it does, Lady Victory takes control. They have a test of strength that goes back and forth and allows Sleeper to get close enough to Lady Freedom to weaken her with some sort of gas.

Sleeper takes control with his martial arts skills and a dozen or so belly punches. He gases Lady Victory a second time and a lengthy scene of the heroine being strangled follows. I think I’ll stop here so I don’t spoil the ending, but I do think if you liked the first episode, I have no doubt you’ll like this one.

I thought this episode was a nice step up in terms of fight choreography as Sleeper has some serious martial arts skills. Lady Victory is gorgeous, and I’m a fan of the story that NGC is creating.

Two small criticisms do come to mind: The warm up calisthenics go on for a little too long for my tastes. I like build-up, and I would stand in line to watch Dominika van Santen stretch, but I think I would have liked to get to the action a little more quickly. I’d also like the heroines to display their powers. If memory serves, neither sister has flashed any special abilities* with the exception of Lady Victory demonstrating some enhanced strength. The synopsis describes the sisters as “super powered women” so at some point, I’d like them to show it.

*[Correction: This is not necessarily true… see comments by Markko and Fabio for details…]

At the end of the day, it’s another good episode, another great looking actress, and just another example why NGC is one of the best in the business.

70 comments on Fail-Safe Sisters Part 2: Lady Victory

A dozen or so belly punches?!? OK Im getting this one. I hope this isnt like the time some description said “Lots of low blows” and there was only like 3. I guess I wont be skipping a purchase for the first time since S1 ep 4 after all. And Sidekick I believe you are mistaken, The beautiful Shadowstar uses her powers against Sadie in episode one. She drains life out of Sadie by using Dark energy, pretty cool. Sadie also demonstrates some awesome powers which shock Shadowstar really bad, and she also does another cool trick that dazes Shadowstar by just simply tapping her opponent’s head. Honest mistake though.

Anyways I’d also like to see less warm up time. I think 30 seconds would be enough. But please, more hopelessness, I love that. Season 2 ep 4 with Suki at the hands of Luner was my favorite, I just wish it was longer since a solid chunk of it was dialogue about the pills. (maybe i just want too much). Hopefully Celestia gets the same treatment but longer. Alot of people often list their favorite episodes and they almost always happen to be ones where the heroine is hopeless. Am I right or am I right?

“If memory serves, neither sister has flashed any special abilities”, well, I should remember you that Shadowstar showed her superpower (she ‘absorbed’ the Sadie Paine’s one, eventhough then she didn’t use it at all). I don’t remember how that was called and the website doesn’t help (the datasheets of the new “ladies” are empty).
But yes I can see your point =) maybe we were expecting something more ‘extreme’, and this one fails compared to the first episode and even compared to the regular serie.
The actress and the costume are superb anyway :p NGC almost never fails in choosing the actresses+costumes, one better than another

I know you producers really try but this again is another spin-off that has no real difference from the main series.. Superheroine/fight/defeated rinse and repeat…

The villians costume is terrible.. I mean why on earth would you wear a gas mask, padded top with tracksuit bottoms and trainers from the standard of production from previous work I really expected more.

The new girl is another nice addition but The girls aint the issue for me.

I love the video the fight and the superheroine were great great actress with a great attitude.
I have to agree with Andy about the villain thoug, he has was good and he has great skills but i think that this kind of character is better with a mature big man. Maybe i said this because it remindme bane from batman ha!. And with the costume it looks more like a kid trying to have fun. Overall i love it, and the ending was fantastic

The vilain’s costume wasn’t bad. I paid 12 bucks for this and saw a beautiful woman, who happens to be a GREAT actress, in a sexy, creative, and specially designed unique costume, definitely not bought at your local Halloween store. and most certainly not cheap. We saw her in action fighting against a trained martial artist doing flips n shit which makes me think he wasnt cheap to hire either. All of that for 12 bucks and people still have something to complain about. harshly too.

Im sure they had to improvise with what they had available without spending much more money and I think they did a good job doing that.

Anyways on to the episode. I thought it was alright, but definitely not better than the first. There was a lot of dodging going on and like I mentioned earlier not a big fan of seeing the heroine winning almost the entire time, even the people sending those on-screen messages were bummed, lol. Id like something more in the fighting, if there is anything about you guys going stale, its that. Alot of dodging going on or blocks, Id like to see blows connect, big ones that immediately wear out the heroine, and different types of blows delivered, like knees, kicks, bearhugs (which were used alot last season), kicks to the stomach while heroine is on all fours, stomps, blunt objects, elbows, I can go on, just more brutal you know?. I especially didnt dig the villain’s gas ability. It makes her go to sleep. She falls asleep then what? Fight’s over? awe man…

I think an interesting idea for this scenario is throwing the heroine in already injured, I liked Suki trying to fight Eliza while being wounded in the latest episode. She can be suffering from bruised ribs or abs for example. or just exhausted from a previous encounter. Something that immediately makes the fight unfair for her. Also giving the villain a weapon would be cool too. It would add to Alpha said earlier in the older thread about the heroine being hopeless but still not giving up and fighting. And since viewers on Lockdown want the heroines to lose, why dont the people running the show give them what they want by cheating? If shes winning why not have someone show up, deliver an unexpected blow and change the tide. Just like in the WWE, someone goes into the ring hits a guy thats winning which changes the tide and just takes off, and the crowd goes wild.

@Andy I respect your opinion, but IMO NGC has put out another great product with incredible fight choreography, acting, storyline, beautiful and talented actress playing the superheroine, totally in line with what they do better than anybody in the Western World. What are you hoping for that NGC isn’t doing?

Also, I am pretty sure you didn’t watch the Lady Victory video from what you wrote. To be fair, I do have to agree with you and Beast that the villain costume falls short of NGC’s usual standards, but his acting and martial arts skills are fair compensation IMO.

Yeah, I’m with Fabio on this one in terms of the villian’s powers. It seems like a bit of wasted opportunity having talented martial artist playing the villian, only for him to have a power that is basically just making people go go sleep with some smokey SFX. If he’d simply been some kick-ass Ninja/Kung-Fu bloke, I’d have snapped this up – EVEN if he’d only dominated the last few minutes of the action before he won.

But from the trailer, the review and the subsequent comments, I don’t think this one’s for me.

Oh, although I agree with almost all Fabio’s points about the fight choregraphy, I disagree with him about giving the villains weapons. I mean, that’s essentially the problem with this one. I just wanna see the fists and feet flying – A weapon, be it a gas dispensing wotsit or a big stick, just serves to make any victory less… Well, less personal, I guess. I like my fights mano e mano (or man e womano!)

Once again, well made episode. But I feel like you passed up a huge opportunity with this Sleeper character. Coulda finally had a nice ko, which is something youve been lacking for quite some time now. but instead you guys focused once again on choking and when she did kinda “pass out” from the gas she just laid there with her eyes open for about 15 seconds and then woke up, proceeding to kick the villians ass and win the match.

What happened to the Season 1 days where you could rely on a well made ko scene every other episode or Training Room installment? I find myself getting more and more dissapointed with each release, but yet I stick with it because you always say “if you didnt like this one, then maybe the next one will be to your taste.” I agree with that statement, yet these days, the next ones are getting further and further away from my tastes.

I want to love you guys like I did last year, but youre making it harder and harder. You seem very insistent on either bungling your ko content or just not including it at all.

**reposting this in the correct thread so NGC may have a chance to respond**

@NGC: this is my first post on these forums, but I’m certainly not new to NGC. I’ve purchased nearly every film production youve put out since S1E1 (with the exception of a few TR episodes) and before this starts sound like a negative review, I love what y’all do. I buy for the story just as much as the actresses and the peril. My only reason for stepping out now is on this latest FSS movie. I was under the impression that the FSS was going to be a lot darker, set in a time period where the super heroines had lost, and they were held captive and fought for the amusement of the city. This to meant the FSS would lose. Now don’t get me wrong, Lady Victory was smoking’, and Shadow Star was all kinds of hot. I just thought there’d be a little more of hand to hand combat where the superheroes would be on the receiving end for longer than 15seconds. 15 seconds was the length of time Lady Victory was getting beat down by the villain…not counting the 30 or so seconds she was choked and the 28 seconds or so she was thrown to the ground. The earlier episodes (season 1 and early season 2) seemed to have more of a back and forth exchange where the heroine would get beat on, then she would do the beating (S1 E8 for a great example).

Is NGC going to be incorporating more hand to hand combat exchanges (beatdowns if you will) in future releases?

Btw, please don’t think I’m bashing or hating. If I didn’t like what I saw, I wouldn’t buy.

I havent bought this so Im going from the trailer but I agree with whoever said that this was supposed to be a “darker themed” type of series. Darker? really? I dont notice any appreciable difference from anything youve ever done. Whether its full episodes or Side Missions. I used to buy all NGC stuff but until they really do what they say or promise and make these FSS espisodes 1)longer and 2) darker with significant losses by the heroine I’m passing

I posted the following in the Season 2 Episode 5 thread, so I am just going to paste it here since this is the proper place for comments regarding FSS Episode 2.

*****
I think it would be cool if there was like an alternate ending after the credits roll for these FSS videos. So if the heroine wins during the actual video, after the credits you could have a short alternate ending that goes the other way with the heroine losing. This will allow you to tell a story where the heroine occasionally wins, but still satisfy the camp that likes to see the heroines lose.

Obviously, you can’t satisfy everyone and I am not sure how much more work it would take for you to film like an extra 1-2 minute ending. Just figured I would throw this out there as a suggestion.

As far as this new FSS video is concerned, I still enjoyed it, even if the ending wasn’t to my liking. The new actress did great (though I think a little eye fluttering could have sold the gas/choke combo better). I also prefer f/f, but that is just a personal nitpick. Anyways, keep up the good work and take care.

*****
I also wanted to add to my above post and say that I agree with those who say this should be darker. The heroines are supposed to basically be beaten already, right? They should be fighting for their survival at this point, but that’s not really the vibe that I get. It seems more like Lady Victory is enjoying this and doesn’t appreciate the fact that she and her sisters are prisoners in this crazy city.

I guess I am just used to scenarios like “The Running Man” being more of a survive or die sort of thing. But obviously, you don’t want to one-off your talent, lol. Maybe losing could end with the heroine being dragged off by the winner and we don’t really see what happens to them. Maybe it could be revealed in later episodes that they are being brainwashed and sent out to hunt their remaining sisters down. I don’t know, just throwing random ideas out.

Basically, I think the main thing is I would like to see a more definitive ending to these videos with the heroine KO’d. I guess that is why I suggested alternate endings, so that both camps (heroine winning/heroine losing) can be satisfied. Oh well, still enjoyed this vid, but the ending was upsetting. Take care.

I never got the impression this series was meant to be darker, the format is almost like a twisted game show and there’s not much “dark” about the intro and music IMHO. But it’s pretty different from other NGC series, I really like the interviews and special effects and the fact the bad guys are pulling the strings.

Lady Victory, stunning. She’s got the perfect heroine ‘look’ and kind of reminded me of a young Catherine Zeta Jones – nice accent too, really complimented her arrogant attitude and she sold the stomach punches really well. The costume – showing off her wonderful stomach and legs – was top quality and very sexy. Loved the cape, it moved great. As a tights fan, I thought her legs looked amazing and the skirt was perfect length, i.e. short!!

Sleeper’s costume, well I don’t buy these vids for that but I found it OK. Clearly nowhere near as much money was spent on it compared to Lady Victory’s, but that’s OK for me if it means a better costume for the heroine. As per the review I liked his skills, seemed to wear her down with his speed and agility until he saw an opportunity to GAS her right in the face, not once but three times! Loved the creepy way he did that and her reaction to the gas. I was under the impression though that she was pretending the third time so as to get close enough to him to remove his mask. So she won using brains, I liked that.

I would like to see a KO at some point though, mix things up a bit and increase the peril.

Lot’s of interesting comments, some good, some not so. Here’s the thing about me that I just can’t change – I’m a long term thinker. I just don’t work in a short term way and don’t think I ever could. Every time anything we do gets reviewed these days any negatives seem to be along the lines of us ruining a good thing forever. Like if the next video doesn’t have the perfect KO then it’s over, we’ll never do another one again, ever. There are new films out every 2-3 weeks guys. If you aren’t sure about this one for any reason you won’t buy it. If I’d put the perfect KO in this then I’d get emails from other buyers complaining about how it was done or that it happened at all. It’s a broad church I’m catering to, not just people who post comments on this site.

I’ve been determined from day one not to bullshit anybody. If I can’t do something I will say and I certainly won’t go “Oh yeah we’ll definitely do that” and then not do it. I can’t really affect debate here and I’m perfectly happy with suggestions such as wanting this type of KO, or wanting this series to be more about survival, shorter intros, dual endings. I might not do them all but I’ve no issue with people asking for them. It’s just all this kind of ultimatum bollocks “If you don’t do this next time I’m never coming back.” Why would you do that? What if in 2 years we produce something you really like the look of? I want to be producing films that are much, much better than these (however proud I am of them) for years to come and I figure with about 25 of them a year I should be able to experiment a bit with endings and not make the same film over and over. I hope this is not viewed as unreasonable.

That said, if we’ve made too many on the bounce that favour choking or the heroine winning or not losing decisively enough then I will try and remedy it. I might point out that the heroines have lost the 2 videos before this one, but it’s an evolving thing. I’d like to have an interactive discussion about what we can do in the future and if I like it I will do it. In terms of decisive KO I swear on the souls of my unborn grandchildren that within the next month there will be a decisive KO, I know this because it’s been shot. I’m writing the next set of Fail-Safe Sister videos now and will also look over these comments and those I’ve received from others and try and make something enjoyable that doesn’t irritate people and force them to tell me that they’re thinking of leaving for good, because I’m finding that a bit boring to tell the truth.

Now, I guess you can decide whether you want a producer who actively engages, spends all of his money trying to improve the product and is honest with you about his limitations… or one who just lies that he will do what you want every time, makes a dozen u-turns about the content and simply doesn’t take the financial risk anymore. I’m interested in what you have to say but collectively you say a lot of things and I’m just trying to make fun Superheroine fight films.

Hey NGC, I appreciate the fact that you come here and reply directly to us, it seems like that is a rare thing in other forms of entertainment. I hope I didn’t come off as too negative, as I still enjoy what you guys are doing.

I was just trying to offer suggestions, but I don’t really expect any of them to be acted upon. Like you said, even if you followed some suggestions to the T, there are other people who have the complete opposite opinion. Even in this thread people can’t completely agree on everything.

For example, Mike thinks that chokes are being overused, but they are my favorite moves, so seeing them gone would make me unhappy, but probably please other people. Myself and a few others stated how we think this should be a darker series, yet other people are fine with the way it currently is.

So I think you hit the nail on the head when you said that you have about 25 vids a year, so not every single vid needs to be the same. If I don’t like a particular vid based on the previews, I can just wait for the next one and not demand that every vid be a KO fest suited directly for me, lol. Anyways, keep it up and try not to let the harsh reviews get to you.

Thanks for responding. I hope I didn’t lead you to believe I was angry. I enjoy what you produce. I don’t like the “harsh” stuff of other producers and while I do love to see my girls lose, those guys sometimes take it too far or their acting stinks. Yours doesn’t. So kudos.

I was just offering up an observation I noted. Looking forward to this “definitive KO” you speak of. It’s just a shame it won’t be performed on the stunning Suki Deluxe, maybe I’ll get lucky and it’ll be on Celestia….or even BlueBird!

I think NGC has hit the nail on the head! I’m one of their biggest fans but harshest critics, and will continue to no doubt be so! I’m assuming that NGC would prefer it that way, as I only critique their products after purchasing them! Now, I’ve been blown away by some of the stuff from the new season, but just as incredibly disappointed as well! So much so, it has got to a stage now where I watch the trailers before purchasing; something I never, ever did before! And I can’t say that I will continue to purchase from them with how things have been with their recent efforts. However, they’re a young company still, and even in the stuff I haven’t liked as much (or even hated!), you can see them experimenting…see them growing. And because of that, plus the fact that I know they can still produce some of the best work in this genre on their day, I’ll always await their next release with great interest! I just hope that you guys and girls keep going for the long term, and if so, me and no doubt lots of others will be supporting you all along the way!

By the way NGC, I wonder if you could take a look at my last comment on the Episode 5 thread; although I doubt you can answer, I’ve got to ask the question!

Lady Victory – Yummy, I personally can’t wait for her to be hunted down and destroyed. As you know I never want the heroine to win. But her victory just makes me look forward to her eventual defeat even more.

Sleeper – I liked him. I thought he sort of jumped around for no reason, but whatever. I even liked his secret weapon. I thought that part was surprisingly well executed. I was surprised that people didn’t think it was cool. I too, thought the sweat pants were a little weak, but if you put him in cargo pants he may have looked cooler but could he move the same way? Plus who know what people will wear in a post-apocalyptic world?

NGC – Another great video. I have a suggestion (as apparently so does everyone else) for FSS. I think it would be cool if you had one totally undefeatable villain. Sort of like they do in pro-wrestling with a nasty heel character, whom whenever they face an opponent you know for sure the opponent is going to take a terrific beating and be destroyed? A super villain would do two things. First, when a heroine (like Lady Victory or Shadowstar) wins or even survives a battle, people like me could look forward to her facing this awesome villain and getting “hers”. Second the fear of this villain could spread throughout FSS, and when a heroine finds herself face to face with said villain she’d already be partially defeated because you’d see the fear she has and her plan suddenly turns to survival or escape rather than victory. Then when you get bored with the story a heroine could finally find the secret weakness of this super villain and either defeat it or at least send it scurrying away to lick its wounds.
You might be heading this way with the masked fellow back in the NGC universe, but I’m not sure. I think you could make this a much “darker” angle that people, myself included, seem to be clamoring for. Anyway, it’s just a thought. Whichever way you go, I still enjoy your stuff.

I always post things and then forget some additional comments I wanted to make.

NGC – Thanks for including more full body shots of Lady Victory. Not sure if it was on purpose but it seems like you listened to what was probably my only real complaint so far. Is that it seemed like you guys were getting away from the full view of the heroine and instead only showing her from the waist up or worse only from the neck up. (This is not to say I don’t appreciate a facial expression now and again when appropriate, but it seemed we were almost losing any shots of the heroine’s lower body.) This video seemed to give me more full body camera angles. So even if it happened by accident or I’m only imagining it, I wanted to say thanks I appreciate it.

@OldBear – I appreciate and understand the comments, like I say, I really don’t mind people putting forward what they want to see. I won’t be eliminating chokes as a fight move but I may rely on them less heavily for a bit.

@Echo419Alpha – As above I can live with comments, but if I can’t do something or don’t agree I will say. As for definitive KOs, well Suki was definitively KO’d in Episode 5, if you can call it a KO, was certainly definitive. For Celestia I recommend Episode 4, and Bluebird Episode 1, Training Room 4 and 14 in particular. Now whether it’s the right kind of KO I’m not sure.

@Mark – That particular question was answered earlier in that thread when I was talking about the bringing back of characters. As of right now and the foreseeable future there are no plans to bring her back.

@JobberLover – The ultimate villain in the FSS universe is an idea I’ve had and plan to do. You won’t see this character very soon though as I am yet to cast it, then film with it, then release it. But I plan to do it.

No you didn’t get teasers this time, but I hope the freebie photos made up for it. The next one is a favourite villain clashing with a Season 2 heroine on the NGC side. The blog will be filling up in a week and we are hoping to release on the 20th for members. So not long, but hey, this one isn’t on general release to the public yet so I’d like to sell a few more of these so we can get Lady Victory back!

I have been following this debate with great interest as it seems to have been dragging on for a while, and not only in relation to this video. So first let me make a few points. I love what NGC is doing, even though the style of fighting they use may not be 100% up my alley I do really enjoy their videos, at least the ones which I have bought. I am not a fan of the storyline, I don’t follow it at all to be honest, I am just into the fight scenes, which in NGC’s production are always excellently choreographed. I have recently stopped buying NGC videos (temporarily) a) because my finances require me to be a bit more cautious on how I spend my money and b) the videos just didn’t do it enough for me.

When the FSS series was announced as something much darker, I was hoping that it would be just that, darker, more brutal and more likely to appeal to fans such as myself who want to see the heroine dominated and beaten. By running the two separate series I think it was a great opportunity to please both sides of this debate, those that wish to see the heroine be competitive and engaged in a long term story, and those who are here just to see the heroines lose. In my opinion, which is based on the first episode which I bought and the reviews of the second episode above, I think that FSS has thus far not delivered on that promise of this series being much darker, which in my eyes is a shame. I have to agree with Andy that in terms of content I don’t see that much difference in this spinoff and the main series. In many ways I am much more likely to buy a DT Wrestling Heroine video, despite their much lower production qualities and acting, as they hit the mark for me – gorgeous women in boots getting beaten up. I thought FSS would be more in that vein and therefore pull me right in, so far that hasn’t quite materialized but I hope that as the series progresses the levels of evil that the bad guys get up to increases, especially as they get frustrated with the heroines winning every now and again. Considering Logan’s penchant for long term planning and building things up to crescendo, I hope this is the way he is heading with this spin off.

Now, to end the way I began, by complementing what is clearly one of the outstanding producers in the genre. The actresses you find are all bar none outstanding in every respect,the quality of your production is fantastic and, like most people, I am very happy to see a simpler villain costume if that means the heroine’s costume is more elaborate – at the end of the day the heroine is the star of the show and the villain is much less relevant. It is also great to see the direct interaction with fans and your ability to deal so well with criticism and the bagillion different ideas people throw at you. I will keep eagerly awaiting your upcoming videos and expecting the one that really hits the mark for me. Keep it up my man!

Very good post Mantower. I agree with much of what you say. I have passed on many of the NGC movies this series, but will always consider the next one based on trailer and reviews if the trailer does not tell me enough. Lady Victory and her costume were outstanding but I just could not purchase it due to the lack of fighting and beatdown claimed by others in the reviews. If NGC do make this darker and include more of the beatdowns I recall from the 1st series I will be purchasing again. The constant use of choking has also been a turn off for me although I appreciate there are others who love it.

@mantower – Thanks for the comments, I believe most of it applies to us although you seem to be mixing us up with other producers with some of it.

I should make the point about this ‘Darker’ thing that everyone has latched onto… I never said that, it was never part of my announcement for the series, if you go and read the Shadowstar review you will see in a box the official announcement and that merely sets out the scenario. The words ‘dark’ ‘darker’ or ‘darkness’ were not used. Sidekick, in his review stated that it has a ‘darker, more ominous tone’ which is what he thought and I won’t argue with it, but I should not be held accountable for things I never said. We had a discussion earlier about the NGC story being darker in season two, that’s undoubtedly true and I’m not saying that FSS won’t do ‘dark’ I’m just pointing out that you are complaining about promises not being kept when they were never made.

Choking – I’ve gone back and looked over this just in case I’d gone mad and was making choke films all of a sudden unwittingly. Now, I’m still going to try and be creative with moves but here are the facts: This season, Episode 1 NO CHOKING. Episode 2 A little bit, Episode 3 A LOT OF CHOKING, Episode 4 NO CHOKING, Episode 5 A fair bit of choking. Side Mission 1 A bit at the end, Side Mission 2 A leg scissors, does that count? FSS1 A bit at the end FSS2 A little bit also. I really think that only 2 of our releases could be classed as having a lot of choking. But anyway, I’ll still see what I can do.

FSS Stretching time – This is a slightly interesting one. A couple of people said that they think the stretching goes on too long. I’ve spoken to the editor and I was present at the shoot, here are the options: 1) Maintain same amounts of stretching, more full body shots of heroine in costume. 2) Cut down the amount of stretching, less full body shots of heroine in costume. To be plain and understandable, if we knock off 30 seconds of stretching it can’t be replaced with anything, we don’t do more fighting or talking instead, you just don’t get it and have a shorter film. This is because the extra 30 seconds of stretching takes 30 seconds to do, a minute if we want two takes. To rehearse and shoot another 30 seconds of fight (without choking) will take at least an hour, which I promise you we don’t have. I’m just being honest with you, I can make a shorter film if that’s what you want or carry on with things the way they are.

@Lake – Okay I understand, I think if you read the above it might de-bunk a few myths, I guess if you don’t buy you’ll never know.

@NGC – I don’t like correcting you guys, but there was more choking in Side Mission 2 than you mentioned; trust me, I remember the choking on Bluebird well! And doesn’t a choke – lift qualify as a choke too? If so, then Episode One has some in lol! Joking aside, I do feel that this choking issue has got out of hand. I don’t mind it; I only brought it up as to me it was signaling a lack in variety that was in Season One Episodes / Training Rooms. And even if it’s just one each video, and is only ten seconds long, if those same releases don’t have something else different in (i.e. bearhug, torture rack, sleeper, camel clutch…anything!), it looks like the guys have NGC have run out of ideas!

But now! It’s got that out of hand with people being over – critical on it, you’ve got people who haven’t even purchased that much complaining about it, based upon word of mouth lol!

By the way, I’d prefer the stretching than nothing lol! Just a comment though – one, please give us some variety on angles / shots (FSS 1 was done far better than FSS 2 in my eyes) and two, we’re here to see the hotties, so please, less of the guy, and more of the girl (especially when it’s one as gorgeous as Lady Victory)!

I actually like choking alot, but even I felt it is over-used so far this season. I can only speak for myself but looking back over season 1 and Training Room their was alot more variety in the moves used, it is only episode 5 and early on FSS so… I am confident NGC will produce the goods again.

I’ve got to compliment you guys on this video. You’ve pulled off a near perfect combination of actress and costume. Lady Victory is absolutely arresting in this episode. She looked great in the fighting action too, so another great find on your part. I like the accent too – French I presume? The episode itself was quite entertaining with some nice twists. I particularly liked the reaction of Lady Victory to the big roundhouse kick – the cape, the long hair, the hand on the cheek – brilliant stuff.

A couple quibbles. I think it would have been better to have L.V. dominate a first test of strength, and then struggle more after being gassed. It didn’t really make sense that she couldn’t hold his arms down (a more dominant position) when she was at full strength, and then powered out of an armlock after she had been weakened. Also, I’d be happy to see less choking action for the next few vids. I’m not against it in principle, but it has been overused this season, so whenever there’s a choke of any length now it just seems like repetition. I sense from your comments that you feel this issue is overblown, but from an audience perspective I think less choking would be welcome. I was thinking it might be fun to have a villain try chokes a couple times but have the heroine quickly counter the move each time – a subtle signal that the customer concerns have been heard!

I just rewatched this video and again, I think it is really well executed.

I’m surprised at the negativity in some of the reviews of this video. Yes, I would like to see one-sided domination of the heroine where the villain drags out the beatdown before delivering the ultimate coupe de grâce. That’s my preference, I know its not everyones. However, I don’t mind being disappointed in this case if it makes Lady Victory more arrogant so that her final defeat is that much sweeter.

So, I look forward to Lady Victory being dominated and destroyed. But, I will wait patiently for that to happen. Besides the bread will be 20% more stale from now on bit is actually quite funny.

Something I haven’t seen in any videos at all really is villains taking advantage of the cape wearing heroines.
Yeah I think NGC and others have had villains use the cape as a rope for choking.
But stuff like pulling it over their head so they can’t see and such.
I like capes on heroes and heroines, but they are kinda silly if you are gonna fight hand to hand. Would definitely like more villains taking advantage of the non-practical cape.

Sorry, I was sure you had said that this was going to be a darker series, having re-read the pre series intro you gave what you are doing now makes more sense, considering there are only 5 heroines in this series I am guessing they will be broken down slowly but surely until they are finally defeated. So now I understand your ‘strategic plan’ and I look forward to seeing it develop and pan out.

I will first admit that I have never purchased a single one of your videos as I live in Lebanon and Paypal or payloadz or whatever are not available in my territory. But I am writing to say how awesome your work seems from the outside looking in, You have taken the time to create a world so detailed and sprawling, I can only admire it in awe.

Now a point I would like to make about your “Ultimate villain” in FSS. I imagine her to be female and to be daunting, someone of a greater size than a regular model. I see her as a sort of “Doomsday” version for NGC. And I like the villain to be female as a personal preference.

Would it be possible for me to purchase your videos through a western union money transfer? I have a lot to catch up on!

As far as “darker elements” go, I always like to see the heroine world fall prey to the dark forces in the end. I know for commercial purposes this might not be useful as it kills the longevity, but it would be nice at least to see a few more heroine deaths in the future from both NGC and FSS worlds. Another personal preference.

@Mark & Andy – I’m sure we’ll still produce elements you like. It’s interesting when people mention the Training Room (18 of them still available) because in that context where heroines were not in a fight for their lives it was easier to do some fairly out of context moves. People then became very unhappy that we were using the same room over and over and that the heroines weren’t in real danger. As a result we stopped doing it and moved into season 2 where heroines are in danger fighting for life and limb. In that context a ‘Camel’s Clutch’ would be out of place, you don’t tend to see wrestling moves of that nature in street fights, if someone is laying on their front you’d either run away or stamp on their spine, kick them in the head etc.. If we were making a wrestling series then sure, but we’re not so it’s hard to shoe-horn such an unusual fight move in there. I’ll still be creative, but that sort of thing had a point in the Training Room, but people decided they didn’t want us to make them anymore. It might be possible to bridge the gap though, for our members at least, so look out in a couple of months for something a bit different.

@Bert – Lady Victory’s accent is in fact Venezuelan. Quick counters of chokes will definitely be on the agenda.

@Jobber Lover – Thanks, I guess it’s like music, some albums are ‘growers’ and others more instantly enjoyable. I have to say my favourites were all ‘growers’ though.

@Leo – Thanks, no they won’t disappear, just be a bit less of them.

@Rick – I understand about capes being impractical, the whole costume thing is really but I think it’s such a big and fun part of the genre that I try and get the heroines in the best outfit I can afford. I’m not sure about pulling it over their heads though, surely they’d just pull it off rather than walk around bumping into things. I don’t think we’d do slapstick very well.

@Mantower – Thanks, I trust it will be a fun series whether I call it dark or not.

@rizo – Have you emailed me about not being able to buy before? Send me an email and I’ll see what can be sorted out. The Ultimate villain whether male or female will need to be pretty big I should think, and very good at stage combat, so it won’t be easy to find but I’m sure we will. Deaths will be pretty few in our series, but you never know when!

The whole costume thing is awesome dont get me wrong. I love capes and all.
I don’t mean slapstick “walk around like a headless chicken”, but if I were a villain fighting a heroine that has a cape. I would definitely use it to my advantage.

@NGC – I only mentioned some of those holds / moves from the top of my head. It was just as examples of doing different things; some variety. That said, I’d love to see a more grappler based / wrestler type opponent for our heroines to deal with; again, it would be something different!

And to be honest, I never got tired of the Training Room; in fact, if anything, I miss them! Complaints because it was the same room? A room is a room, and who the hell was looking at the background when you’d got lovely ladies such as Bluebird, Suki and Angel front and centre!!??!! It takes all types I suppose lol!

excellent job, very entertaining, enjoyed the dialogue between the characters, I much prefer that and would rather see more of that to bring out the characters instead of these fetish demands for chokes, low blows etc. The gas idea was really done well.

George hits the nail on the head! ‘Entertaining’ is what I want from my heroine adventures, and this was nothing if not entertaining. It’s a balance of action, dialogue, drama and peril. Characters should be BELIEVABLE above all else, something NGC tends to focus on with their backstories, costumes and dialogue. Lady Victory is a good example. She is perfectly in character from start to end, the costume hugs her every curve and she knows how to use it. The fight moves and her reactions to those moves are convincing, and when she’s gassed it seems real. The contrast between the weakened, frightened heroine in these moments and the triumphant, cocky heroine at the end is fabulous and taps into what I love about the genre. And she won by outsmarting the villain, something you don’t see too often. For me it does two things: respect the heroine more, but hope the villain will outsmart HER next time. I’d love to see her face when both strength AND smarts fail her and she becomes ‘Lady Defeat’! She asked for a challenge, so make her regret that request. Lay her out cold on live television for viewers to enjoy and discuss.

I’ve read some of the recent posts, and it’s highlighted a major failure, in my eyes anyway, with NGC. I’ll start with the comments:

Mantower: “considering there are only 5 heroines in this series I am guessing they will be broken down slowly but surely until they are finally defeated. So now I understand your ‘strategic plan’ and I look forward to seeing it develop and pan out.”

Jobber Lover: “However, I don’t mind being disappointed in this case if it makes Lady Victory more arrogant so that her final defeat is that much sweeter.

So, I look forward to Lady Victory being dominated and destroyed”

So basically, people don’t mind the ‘slower burners'; they’ll accept something that maybe isn’t that great because of the promise of a ‘better tomorrow’. And there lies the problem! I was expecting that with Suki, and now she’s gone, so that’s never going to happen. Same with Angel. I realise that because of their shoot schedule, things maybe get forced upon them. But that doesn’t change the feeling of disappointment! So we end up with top talent leaving before really delivering that epic performance you’re waiting for! Don’t get me wrong, I like the storylines etc., but wasn’t the Training Rooms / Side Missions there to deliver upon the ‘quick fix’? Sometimes, for me anyway, I’d just really wish they’d ‘go ugly early’! I wish they’d just forget about the storyline and / or any continuity, and give us some epics…before it’s too late again!

So, the new ‘Side Mission’! I was super excited at the prospect of seeing Erica in action again, especially as I loved her in Episode 3! Unfortunately, if I was asked to sum up this release in one word, it would be ‘Yawn’ (I will comment on the exact reasons why in the relevant thread)! Great to see that they’ve embraced London 2012 though, what with all the running involved lol! Joking aside, a sad day for me, as this will be my last purchase from NGC without seeing a more detailed review first!

As always with NGC, this episode is well executed. Erica Lynn is smoking hot. Lunar is spot-on. The episode does serve to continue the story. But as much as it pains me to do so, I have a hard time recommending this one. I don’t think it has any shelf life. This would be a perfect episode to watch on a streaming option. I think this is an episode that you watch once but not go back to again and again.

There’s one really sweet back-breaker, but otherwise there’s not that much that happens in this one other than some chasing around. I have to say I was entertained while watching it, but I was rooting hard for Lunar to beat Erica senseless and that never happened. I guess the story progressed, but all we really learned is that Lunar is a bad-guy… I think we already knew that.

I will say this, the best thing about this episode is the free pics that came with it. There’s one of an upcoming episode with Athena and she looks outrageously hot in the photo. And there’s a ton of pics of Ashleigh Lawrence as Erica Lynn some of which are candid and some are action shots. Ashleigh Lawrence may have the cutest smile I’ve ever seen. The snap shots of her smiling could absolutely melt the coldest heart.

The episode itself is good, but NGC has set the bar so high. They have so many episodes that I really like that this just isn’t anywhere near one of my favorites of theirs. Even though I love Ashleigh Lawrence as Erica Lynn and I will buy everything she’s in. I would be much more likely to go back and re-watch Season 2, episode 3 again and again, rather than ever rewatch this one.

Yes i was expecting this episode so much and i was a little disappointed. I love Erica and sebastian but it was a let down to see so little during the fight scene. As a fan o belly punches i didnt like that we didnt see anyone because of the bad camera angles. In the last episode we saw every punch hits and even close ups but in this one we only see the back of the heroine or we stay very far from the action. It was ashame really, i like the suit more now that the belt is lower but because we didnt see any close up of the hits it was a little pointless. Sorry for be so negative with this one. As a fan of Erica it was cool to see her again and with the photo packs i think it is still a good purchase ( look the price!). I love NGC and i will be waiting the next episode as always, and please NGC tell me that we are going to see Erica again!!!
PS: Did she hit her head for real after the back breacK?

Great review Jobber Lover – you pretty much summed up my feelings perfectly! I just feel that watching most of the last few releases is, for me anyway, like picking out wallpaper; it’s just not that exciting, however hard you try to make it so lol! Another missed opportunity I fear!

Sorry for comment again! i was seeing the photos and i realize that the camera angles in the photo pack are better than in the video in some cases. For example in the picture IMG_1109 we see the punch clearly when the heroine is on the wall. I comment this as a simple opinion as a consumer. Maybe some fans agree with me. Now that i think maybe it was the idea to make photos with better angles than the film. If that the case i want to say that i prefer the video all the way. Ok this is my last negative comment on this video now i move on ha!

Wow we’re a finicky bunch sometimes. My take on the latest vid: for $10 I get to see a gorgeous heroine in a skintight costume fight the series’ greatest villain with bear hugs, belly punches and a backbreaker, plus lots of really nice photos (IMG_0993 is my new desktop, perfection in a cape). Is it NGC’s best? No, but for my money it’s better than many of the Training Room vids and some of the early episodes. Also if this were their first thing in months I’d be more critical but they release every couple of weeks and always at a discount so no real complaints from me. I’ll be saving my more detailed critique for the official HM review, in the meantime I can’t wait for Athena, she looks better than ever in the preview pic.

@Beast: Yeah, that still shot was taken from the opposite direction from what’s in the video. Because of where Sebastian is standing while punching her, the angle was a little clearer from the direction the still was taken. If the camera operator films from one step closer to the wall Erica is up against though, I think he gets a clear shot. I’ve never attempted to film anything like this, but it seems like it would be pretty difficult to get good angles filming a fight scene in a hallway. The payoff to a location like that is primarily ‘atmospheric'(which I like), but the shots and angles are kind of limited. Maybe @NGC will have something to say about that.

Sure its not easy film a fight in small hallway. It depends on the director really. There are a lot of factors, the perfomance, the intensity. Maybe he had material from a good angle but the performance wasnt the best. I dont know…. i said that me as a customer of this kind of videos one of the most important thing that i want to see is the punches hitting the victim. NGC always deliver in the fight coreography, There are intense, well acted, and they put a lot of devices with the edition of the shots to make it look real. In this video i was dissapointed with the belly punches mostly, because they are hidden. If they cut from the angle to the video to the angle in the still to see the punches i will be very happy with the episode because the rest of it was cool, and i think the photoset was the best photoset so far. And i thanks NGC for the gifts and surprises that they always prepare for the fans. I made it as a big complaint but really is not such a big deal i always like the NGC videos, maybe i was waiting this is episode so much that my expectations were immensely high. I put all the comments here beacuse i dont want to spoil the realese